Surface active agents can be prepared by reacting hydrophobic molecules, such as C10-C22 chain length alcohols, acids or olefins, with various reactants to produce surface active molecules. The resultant compounds can have cationic, anionic, nonionic and amphoteric natures. The compounds find a variety of uses, for example, in textiles, cosmetics, leather treatments, household detergents and other applications. Typically, surface active agents based on cetyl, stearate, oleate, tallow, and behenyl compounds give high levels of lubricity to a given surface.
As the length of the carbon chain increases from C10 to C22, however, the melting points of the compounds increase, and one must increase the strength of hydrophilic group to maintain the desired HLB balance, its ability to be oil or water soluble, or dispersible in oil and water. Further, these products do not provide the same level of the properties provided by silicone-based products at the same percentage of solid concentration. This is particularly true for amino silicones, reactive silicones and elastomeric silicones on a variety of surfaces. These compounds also can have limited long term stability in emulsion formulations.
Most of the surface active agents which show good smoothness and lubricity when applied on textile fibers and fabrics make the surface hydrophobic, i.e, wetting by water is poor. For example, fabric softeners when used in household laundry or mill finishing can make the fabric smooth and silky, but can also lead to poor water uptake, thereby reducing the comfort level of the treated fabrics.
Also, most of these surface active agents which impart smoothness and softness are not water soluble or capable of forming microemulsions on their own. Rather, they form large particle sizes (1-2 microns), which may be a disadvantage at lower levels of application.